Lees Ferry (page 1 of 5)

A Break in the Canyon

Aerial view of Lees Ferry. Click on photo for larger image and explanatory text.

For the past 20 million years, the Colorado River and its tributaries have been steadfastly carving into the sedimentary strata of the Colorado Plateau, creating the spectacular canyons of today’s landscape. For much of its long path to the ocean, the Colorado River is so deeply entrenched within steep, imposing cliffs that it is extremely difficult to reach, let alone cross. However, there are occasional openings where one cliff ends and, before the next begins, the river is accessible. Such a break occurs at the two mile gap below Glen Canyon where the Colorado joins with its major northern tributary, the Paria River, before plunging into Marble Canyon. The Paria (or Pahreah, Paiute for "muddy water") drains 1,500 mi² of the Paunsagunt Plateau, and has a highly variable flow of mineral-laden water, ranging from a muddy trickle to heavy floods. The mouth of the Paria, a wide and fertile delta protected from desert winds, eventually became a center of human activity connected with the river crossing.

Lees Ferry, as this place came to be known, has been the most important of the few canyon breaks along the river’s stretch from southern Utah to western Arizona. Anyone with wagons or livestock to move between Utah and Arizona had to either make the river crossing at Lees Ferry or travel hundreds of miles out of their way. Today, Lees Ferry is the gateway to the Colorado River, the launching site for the tens of thousands of river runners who traverse through the Grand Canyon every year, as well as a tourist destination and the location of one of the world’s premier trout fisheries. [Regional map].

Follow these links to:

Page 2 -- The Earliest Years
Page 3 -- The "Ferry" of Lees Ferry
Page 4 -- 20th Century Land Use
Page 5 -- Lees Ferry Today
                References and Resources